01 June
A first flight bringing medical supplies and laboratory equipment donated by the World Health Organization-WHO to support Health and Sports Ministry’s fighting against the COVID-19 landed at Yangon International Airport at 10:15 am yesterday.
The special flight arranged by the World Food Programme brought Personal Protection Equipment-PPEs and laboratory equipment worth US$16,686 and they will be handed over to the Ministry of Health and Sports.
WFP Deputy Country Director Mr Walid Ibrahim said, “WFP’s Global Logistic Service Provision Plan has been extended to Myanmar starting from this flight landing in Yangon this morning. In the execution of the plan, WFP has created logistics hubs around the world.”
“The plan of WFP, now with the global plan is to continue to provide those flights on a weekly basis every Sunday. This arrangement will be in place until such time that the commercial sector stands up on its feet again and provide this essential service as they used to do before the pandemic started,” he added.
Dr Stephan Paul Jost, WHO Representative in Myanmar, said, “We have a set of personal protective equipment which has been donated by WHO onboard this special charter flight through the WFP air service. It’s very good that this facility exists.
It provides extra support for the health workers in Myanmar to fight COVID 19, in particular, the Health and Sports Ministry’s frontline health workers, and laboratory staff who are in need of this equipment and who need to be able to protect themselves at all times from the possibility of infection from COVID-19.
For this purpose, today’s consignment is an important additional contribution on top of many other contributions that others have made and of course that the country is mobilizing.
Under the Global Logistic Service Provision Plan connecting regional logistics hubs between Yangon and Malaysia, similar flights carrying medical supplies arrived Yangon on 10, 17 and 24 May.
On 10 May, a flight arranged by the WFP brought medical supplies including test kits donated by the Gavi (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) under the programme of the UNICEF to Myanmar.
On 17 May, the similar flight carrying PPEs and accessories procured by the WFP and medicines donated by the WHO arrived in Yangon and they were handed over to the Ministry of Health and Sports.
Similarly, India, China, the Republic of Korea, Singapore and Japan provided Myanmar with the medical supplies in support of fighting against against the COVID- 19.
Zaw Gyi (Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)
